mes (18 starts) again

mes (18 starts) again

It's easy to see former Chicago Bears standouts Devin Hester and Matt Forte as players with skills in decreasing demand.

For Hester Giants Cheap Jerseys , he's not happy about the possibility the NFL could soon eliminate one of his fortes 鈥?the kickoff return.

"At the end of the day kickoff and punt return is one of the key aspects of the quality of football," Hester said. "You've got to let these guys play football. It is what it is.

"You try to find ways to eliminate injuries. But the minute you step on the field you're bound to get hurt somewhere. That's just the nature of the beast. And I think taking that out of the game is big. I don't like to see it happen."

Hester and Forte both signed one-day contracts with their original team Monday at Halas Hall so they could retire as Bears, and an emotional ceremony capped careers rich in highlight-reel material for the former second-round draft picks.

For Hester it may mean a spot someday in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

"Every athlete wants to be in the hall of fame," Hester said. "If there's one out there that says they don't really care about it then they're playing the wrong sport."

No other player is in the Hall based solely on returns, but Hester's league record of 20 TD returns could make him a candidate. He had 14 punt return TDs, five on kickoffs and one on a missed field goal.

Not included in those 20 returns is his most well known, because it came during his rookie year and in the postseason 鈥?the 92-yard return for a TD in 2007 on the opening kickoff of Super Bowl 41.

Whether a special teams player should be in the Hall is a question for voters, but Hester pointed out kicker Morten Andersen made it.

"He just opened up the doors for all special teamers," Hester said.

If Hester eventually gets in, he might be the only returner considered because of the number of concussions last season has league officials meeting next month. Eliminating kickoffs is expected to be a hot topic.

"It's one of the most exciting plays when you're playing this game of football," Hester said. "If I'm the last to be Mark Lowe Jersey , the one who's the best to be at the return game, that's an honor. But at the same time, I want to see it continue to play out."

Like Hester, Forte is a player whose impact may soon be a rarity. In an age when many teams use multiple backs, Forte retired after 10 years with 14,468 yards from scrimmage, the most by any NFL player during the past decade.

"Going into the NFL, I knew it was a production-based league and consistency is better than peaks and valleys," Forte said. "So I wanted to be the best at all times and be available at all times for my teammates and my team."

Forte's consistency was so great, he managed to finish second only to Walter Payton in franchise rushing with 8,602 yards. After eight Bears seasons and two with the Jets Robbie Grossman Minnesota Twins Jersey , Forte had 9,796 yards rushing, 4,672 receiving and 75 TDs.

"Given how great Walter Payton was, it just didn't seem right that my name was just right there next to his," Forte said. "It's just kind of surreal to me that my name is right there with him in this organization."

Forte decided to retire after an injury-filled 2017 season with the Jets. He deflected much of the credit for success to teammates on both sides of the ball, and recalled being frustrated going against Hall of Fame inductee Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs and Charles Tillman at his first practice.

"Playing against a defense like that from a young rookie groomed me to know I'd just arrived here and I hadn't made it and I had to work very hard to continue to be very consistent in my production," Forte said.

CHICAGO — Jon Lester may be having the best season of his career and the timing couldn’t have been better for the Chicago Cubs.

While the starting rotation has experienced its share of issues and the Cubs have struggled to find consistency, Lester has been more than steady. Lester takes a 10-2 mark into his 17th start of the season Sunday when the Cubs attempt to finish off a three-game sweep of the Minnesta Twins at Wrigley Field.

Lester has won six straight starts and allowed four runs in his five starts in June, which bodes well for a team that won its third straight game after Saturday’s 14-9 back-and-forth victory over the Twins.

Lester threw 119 pitches — a sign that at age 34 he has plenty of good work left in him — two starts back. He had thrown 106 pitches in six innings when manager Joe Maddon elected to keep Lester on the mound.

Lester has provided consistency while fellow starters Kyle Hendricks, Jose Quintana and Tyler Chatwood have struggled and Yu Darvish has battled injury. Lester will attempt to keep rolling Sunday against the Twins, against whom he is 3-4 with a 3.66 ERA in 12 career starts.

The Twins continued to struggle Saturday and lost for the seventh time in their last nine games. For the second straight day, Minnesota blew leads as the Cubs rallied from behind twice before scoring five runs in the seventh inning to snap a 9-9 tie.

Minnesota’s bullpen allowed 10 runs and for the second straight day the Twins were unable to match the Cubs’ offense, which pounded out 20 hits on a day when the temperatures were in the 90s and the heat index registered 107 degrees.

The Twins lost left fielder Eddie Rosario, catcher Bobby Wilson and outfielder Max Kepler during the game to heat illness. Cubs’ center fielder Albert Almora, Jr. also left with cramping because of the conditions.

“When the conditions are like that, you do the best you can to prepare them with nutrition and hydration and all those things, but it overtook three of our guys today Cheap Jaire Alexander Jersey ,” Twins manager Paul Molitor told reporters. “So it was just tough.”

Twins right-hander Lance Lynn will take the mound against a team he is familiar with from his days with the St. Louis Cardinals. Lynn enters Sunday’s start with a 5-6 record and a 4.81 ERA. He allowed five runs (four earned) and struck out eight in his last start against the Chicago White Sox.

Lynn is 6-6 with a 4.06 ERA in 19 games (18 starts) against the Cubs.

Lynn will try to bounce back from an outing in which he had a lead but couldn’t pitch out of trouble in his final inning.

“It’s frustrating, especially with the way things had been going all night. I had eight strikeouts in five and you’ve got 8-9 up, bases are loaded, even though it’s been kind of a funky inning, you want to have that chance,” Lynn told the team’s official website. “But with the way things had unfolded that inning, you get it. We’re trying to win the game.”.